Townsend Martin

Biography

Playwright and film pioneer Townsend Martin was born to a wealthy New York family on December 20, 1895 in New York City. He was the son of Howard Townsend Martin and Camilla Thompson. His father was the son of writer and philanthropist Frederick Townsend Martin. His mother was from St. Louis and died in 1903 while visiting Florence, Italy. Three years later Martin's father married in Poughkeepsie, New York, Justine de Peyster, a former debutant from Washington, D.C. Martin entered the film industry in 1914 when he and Dwight Wiman founded the Film Guild to produce movies and operate theaters. He would later work as a supervisor for Famous Players and on occasion appear on film. Martin would go on to write scripts for films that starred many of the early Hollywood celebrities of that era. Townsend Martin passes away in Manhattan on November 22, 1951. There was no family mentioned in his Los Angeles Times obituary. New York City Births, 1891-1902 , Certificate # 52913, Passenger Manifest SS La Loraine, April 28, 1919, US Passport Application, February 9, 1920, New York Times, February 24, 1895, February 9, 1903, Los Angeles Times, November 24, 1951